


Inevitable

by JCapasso



Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-20
Updated: 2020-06-20
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:08:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24821338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JCapasso/pseuds/JCapasso
Summary: What if Elena had overheard Stefan and Damon talking about the cure in 4x05 and she heard Stefan say that he didn't like her this way and Damon say that he was fine with her either way?
Relationships: Elena Gilbert/Damon Salvatore
Comments: 2
Kudos: 54





	Inevitable

When Stefan tried to get her to take a shower, she started the water, but then followed him out. The running water would mask any slight noise from her movements. She was going to find out what he…or they…were hiding from her if it was the last thing she did. Damon hadn’t seemed like he’d been hiding anything and had been pretty supportive even, but maybe he was just a better actor. She stopped outside the room hating that she had to be this close to hear any conversation with the running water, but it was necessary. “How is she?” she heard Damon ask.

“Angry, full of guilt, hasn’t said a word to me other than she wants to be left alone,” Stefan replied. “Is that my journal?” Elena wasn’t sure if she agreed with Damon or not. Journals were private. Sacred almost. But if Stefan was hiding something important from them…

“I had to go through six locks to get it,” Damon quipped. “I needed something to back up your insanity.” Elena resisted the urge to sigh with relief. Whatever it was Damon had just found out and was fact-checking. It made sense that he wanted to get the real picture before saying anything to her. At least they weren’t both hiding things. At least she could still count on someone. “You figure out how to tell Klaus you lost a hunter and a hybrid?” Elena’s jaw dropped. Klaus? Stefan was working with Klaus?

“He’s on a plane, which means I get to live for another six hours,” Stefan told him. 

“Well I got your back, you know, when he comes to murder you,” Damon replied. That made Elena more than a little nervous. Why the hell would Stefan even get into bed with Klaus again in the first place. Now they were all probably gonna end up dead. 

“Thanks. And thanks for not saying anything to Elena,” Stefan said, perking Elena’s listening ears up. 

“About what? The cure we don’t have, can’t find, and probably doesn’t exist? You’re welcome.” Elena was confused. Cure to what? And apparently Damon planned on keeping it from her too, whatever it was. He didn’t believe it was real though, so she guessed she couldn’t blame him. 

“She doesn’t need to know that she killed her chance at being human again,” Stefan said. Elena clapped a hand over her mouth to keep herself quiet. Being human? A cure for vampirism? She had to admit that she was on Damon’s side here. The idea of something like that popping up the moment that she was the one that needed it, after centuries of vampires that would have killed to be human again was just way too convenient. Then again, Klaus needed her human and wouldn’t have wanted the cure to become common knowledge anyway, so it was plausible. Just not very likely. 

“Alleged chance,” Damon replied, unconsciously echoing Elena’s thoughts. 

“I believe him, Damon. You didn’t hear Klaus’ story. I believe every word he said.”

“Well. I’ll remain skeptic for now. So what’s your next move?” Damon asked, and Elena wanted to know the same thing. What was the next big thing that Stefan was going to do behind her back?

“He said there was a brotherhood of the five, which means there are other hunters out there. I’m just gonna keep looking until I find one.” Elena wondered how stupid he could be. That one hunter had nearly wiped them all out. If the others were half as strong as him going looking for them was a suicide mission. She didn’t want that. Especially not for her sake. 

“Sure Stefan. Since you asked, I’d be happy to go on a suicide mission with you for a potentially non-existent cure. No problem,” Damon quipped. Elena couldn’t help but smile through her worry. Those two would always have each other’s backs, no matter how stupid they were being. 

“Yet a few hours ago you were ready to rip my heart out.”

“Because you were being a pain in the ass,” Damon said irritated and Elena almost chuckled. “Answer me one thing. Why do you want to cure her?” Elena’s brow furrowed at that question. It sounded almost like Damon was against the idea. 

“What kind of question is that?” Stefan asked. 

“Legitimate one,” Damon said. “Do you want to cure her because she’s a vampire and she’s not cut out to be or you can’t love her if she is one?” Elena realized what he was asking and it was a question that she’d asked herself a dozen times since this mess started too. Since Stefan started pulling away from her and hiding things. She desperately needed the answer to that question too. 

“I’ll always love her,” Stefan said and Elena could hear the ‘but’ in his voice even before he continued speaking. “But she’s not supposed to be this person. I don’t want her to be.” Elena felt her heart breaking at his words. 

“Well if I’m gonna ride this fairy tale to it’s conclusion, I want to be clear about one thing,” Elena could hear the disappointment in Damon’s voice. Disappointment in his brother. 

“What’s that?”

“I’m fine with her either way, brother. So if I do this, I’m doing it for you,” Damon told him. 

Elena had been doubting the decision she’d made before the accident for a while. She and Stefan had been struggling so much and Damon was being so supportive it was only natural. Hearing that though…she was suddenly a hundred percent sure that she had made the wrong decision. Hearing Stefan say that he didn’t like her this way and Damon promising to love her no matter what…that was the last straw. She hadn’t been sure when she decided before but she was forced to make a split second choice. Now she was sure though. She stepped into the room, almost running into Damon who was on his way out. She could see the surprise on both their faces, and the wonder about how much she heard. “I don’t want it,” she said firmly. 

“Don’t want what?” Stefan asked, unable to believe that she knew what she was saying. 

“The cure. I don’t want it. I’m staying a vampire,” she told them. She wasn’t going to say a word about the danger in chasing it or working with Klaus or finding other hunters like the one she just had to kill. She knew that would just make them more likely to do it, thinking that she was just trying to protect them by giving up what she wanted. 

“Elena…” Stefan sighed wearily. 

Damon tried to escape to give them some privacy for this argument. He’d made his position clear. He was good either way. He was stopped halfway out the door by Elena’s hand around his wrist though as she said, “No, Stefan. I don’t wanna hear it. You think you can just pull some magical solution and ‘fix me’, but what if I don’t want to be fixed?” Once she was sure that Damon wasn’t going to leave, she let go of his wrist and he just leaned against the wall with his arms crossed watching the argument. 

“You never wanted this, Elena, but we can take it back now…” Stefan said desperately. 

“You’re right. I didn’t want this. But how many vampires have ever really wanted it?” she asked. “It is what it is, and I’ve come to terms with that. Every vampire in history has had to live with this, and so will I. I don’t want special treatment and I won’t accept it,” she said firmly. 

“This isn’t supposed to be you, Elena. You’re not supposed to be like this,” Stefan said sadly. 

“Who are you to say to what I’m supposed to be?” she snapped. “You can’t live with me this way, fine. I get it. But you don’t get to try to force me into some mold that you decide is right for me.” 

Stefan wanted to talk more about the cure thing, but right now he knew that he needed to do some damage control for his relationship. “It’s not that I can’t live with you like this, Elena. I can come to terms with it too.”

Elena shook her head. “No, Stefan. I don’t want you to ‘come to terms with it’. I don’t want you to have to force yourself to live with me. That’s not fair to either of us.”

“What are you saying?” Stefan asked fearfully. 

“You know…when we thought Klaus was killed and you were both dying, I was forced to make a split-second decision. One that I wasn’t ready to make yet, and in that moment I fell back on the familiar.” Both Damon and Stefan were all but gaping at her right now, Stefan with dread and Damon with hope. “I stood by that decision, even with everything else going on, because that was the only right thing to do.”

“Elena, don’t…” Stefan tried to stop what was coming next. 

“But I was wrong. I made the wrong choice. You only want me as long as I fit the ideal you have built up around me, but that’s no way to have a relationship. I need someone that will love me and support me no matter what.” Elena turned around to face Damon who was looking at her with so much hope, but also nervousness. “I told you then that I couldn’t think about forever with Stefan. That all I could think about was that moment. Even then I wasn’t ready to give up on the idea of us for good and you just proved today that you’re the right choice…if I’m not too late?” she asked hopefully. 

A slight smile slowly grew on Damon’s face as he breathed out the word, “Never.” 

She smiled back and let her hand brush his as she said softly, “We’ll talk later.” He nodded and looked at her questioningly, cutting his eyes towards the door asking if he should go for now and she shook her head before turning back to Stefan who looked heartbroken. “I never wanted to hurt you, Stefan, and I’m sorry. But I can’t be what you want anymore.”

“If we get the cure though…” He knew he was grasping at straws. He had messed up. Lost her forever. That didn’t mean he couldn’t try. 

She shook her head. “Life goes forward, Stefan. Not backwards. Even if I took the cure now, I still wouldn’t be the same person I was. And I would still remember this. That when I needed your help and support the most, you went behind my back and lied to me in an attempt to ‘fix me’ back to who you wanted me to be.” Maybe if he had talked to her from the start they might have salvaged this, but if she was honest with herself, she was almost glad it worked out this way. That she knew now who she could count on when the chips were down. Not that Damon hadn’t proven that over and over, but it wasn’t until now that she knew that Stefan wasn’t that person. “If you want to keep going after the cure then fine. But on your head be it. Don’t you dare do it for me though, because I don’t want it. Leave me out of it.”

“Klaus isn’t going to just let me back out, even if I wanted to,” Stefan told her. 

“Well that’s your fault for getting back into bed with him in the first place,” Elena snapped. “Besides…If I understand the situation correctly, you lost your only lead. It’s a moot point anyway. There’s nothing left to back out of. Unless you bring up the idea of finding another hunter anyway.” 

“She’s got you there, brother,” Damon couldn’t help but say. Klaus would know what a long shot that was if there were even more out there at all. Since they were only activated by killing vampires, it wasn’t likely that there were any more active at the moment. He wouldn’t waste his resources on a wild goose chase. “And if you even think of telling Klaus that Jeremy is a potential hunter that could take his place, I’ll help her kill you myself.” 

“He’s what?!” Elena glared at Stefan. “You better tell me right now that wasn’t your plan.”

“It wasn’t,” Stefan said quickly, mostly telling the truth. He was keeping Jeremy in mind as a last resort. “I wasn’t going to say a word about Jeremy.” 

“Well make sure you keep it that way,” Elena told him. “Because if he gets dragged into this mess, I will /never/ forgive you.” Elena took a few deep breaths for calm before taking a few steps towards Stefan. “Forget about this cure nonsense, Stefan. Please. I would hate to lose you as a friend too.” 

When Stefan nodded slowly, Elena turned and walked out of the room. She needed that shower that she walked away from and then she needed a drink. Once she was gone, Stefan turned to Damon, who held his hands up in a placating gesture. “I had no idea she was listening.”

Stefan sighed sadly. “I know. And I can’t blame you for anything that happened. It was all my own fault.” 

“I am sorry it went down like this, brother,” Damon said sympathetically. “I had come to terms with her choice, but…”

“I know,” Stefan said again. “She was right. She needs someone that will love her no matter what. That’s why I was so intent on the cure in the first place. I knew it was my only shot to keep her. If she doesn’t want it though…” he took a few deep breaths. “Take care of her, Damon. And don’t screw it up.”

“I don’t plan on it,” Damon told him as he headed out of the room. He just hoped he wouldn’t anyway. He did have a bad habit of that. Damon knew that he and Elena needed to talk and he knew that she knew that too, so the first place he looked for her was his room. When she wasn’t there, he assumed that she actually went to take the shower that she was supposed to take in the first place. Otherwise she would have turned it off by now. He headed downstairs to the living room, making himself easy to find when she was ready to talk and he poured them both drinks while he waited. 

When Elena came down about twenty minutes later, he gave her a wry smile, and held out the drink he’d poured her in offer and she sat down and took a long sip. “I was being polite. Thought you hated whiskey?”

“After the day I’ve had, that’s a moot point,” Elena sighed and leaned back against the couch, trying to gather her thoughts. 

The longer she waited to say anything, the more he worried about what it was she was going to say. “Listen, Elena. I know that emotions and tempers were running high up there so I won’t hold you to…”

“Damon, no,” Elena shook her head and reached out for his hand. “I-I love you, Damon. I have for a long time. I just…I’m sorry. If I’d had more time I probably would have chosen you to begin with. If I’d remembered our first meeting…where you were the stranger that told me you wanted me to get everything I wanted out of life…my choice wouldn’t have even been in question.”

He remembered her saying that whatever she felt for him that she never unfell for Stefan so he believed her. “But you still chose Stefan,” he couldn’t help but point out. 

“I owed Stefan so much. And I did love him. I loved you both and I hated myself for it. And some part of me will always love him. But /you/ are the one who has always been by my side, Damon. Yes, you’ve made mistakes. You’ve lashed out. You’ve hurt people. We’ve fought. But when the chips were down…when I really needed you…you have /always/ been there. I get that it wasn’t completely Stefan’s fault when he wasn’t which was why I tried not to let that factor in too much with my decision, but that was a mistake. I know that now.”

“And I will always be there, Elena. No matter what you choose, what you are, how you live…I will always be there for you when you need me. No matter how much it hurts,” he said softly as he moved closer to her. 

“I don’t want to hurt you anymore Damon,” she said softly. “I want…” she trailed off, getting lost in his eyes. 

“What do you want?” Damon whispered as he started to lean in.

“You,” she breathed out, and when his lips met hers a moment later, it was like fourth of July. Just like it always was when they kissed. Her being a vampire now didn’t change that and she realized now that nothing could ever change his love for her. She was exactly where she was meant to be. This had always been inevitable.


End file.
